Activity Measure for Post-Acute Care "6-Clicks" Basic Mobility Scores Predict Discharge Destination After Acute Care Hospitalization in Select Patient Groups: A Retrospective, Observational Study.

The study excluded general medical and surgical patients, as well as those with amputations or spinal cord injuries, so the results do not apply to these common acute care populations. The data came from a single health system in New York, so discharge patterns and insurance factors may differ in other regions. The researchers could not determine the exact number of days post-admission when scores were taken, making it difficult to assess how recovery time influenced the scores. The analysis was limited to patients who had two mobility scores on record, which reduced the sample size and may have excluded patients with incomplete documentation.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Boards of Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Hunter College of the City University of New York. Informed consent was not required due to the retrospective nature of the study.

Do not use the “6-Clicks” score to decide between home with services and home without services, or between inpatient rehabilitation and skilled nursing facilities. The study found these specific comparisons did not meet the statistical threshold for robustness, meaning the score alone is not reliable for these finer discharge decisions.